During its most recent Board of Health meeting, Grey Bruce Public Health discussed what it would mean to give support to no-cost prescription contraception.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra explained to the board “the major drive here is that people have options and are able to plan their future.”
The discussion topic was brought up upon receiving correspondence from the Chatham-Kent Board of Health, which was received by the Grey Bruce board as information.
In its letter, Chatham-Kent shared the statistic that 30-40% of all pregnancies in Canada were unintended, with the most vulnerable group being impacted being people of lower socioeconomic status.
The municipality also shared the idea to expand contraceptive options stems from a similar move by OHIP+, which provided no-cost coverage to adults under age 25, who were not covered by a private plan.
“Some people are covered through insurance from work or through a trust from different agencies, and having the option [available] to everybody is a benefit to society at large,” added Arra during the May meeting.